The blog of fantasy author Shanna Swendson. Read about my adventures in publishing and occasionally life.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Strange Urges

I got some sad news in children's choir last night. Alas, it seems that Problem Child has started playing baseball, and practice conflicts with choir. Oh no, what shall we do? My co-teacher admitted that when she told the mom we missed him, she might have been crossing her fingers behind her back. Baseball is probably a better activity for him, so I hope he is happy and enjoys himself and maybe works off some of that energy. The rest of the group is still crazy enough, even without him, but I worry less about physical injuries when he's gone. Last night wasn't too bad. I didn't even get through every item on my lesson plan because they got into one of the things I planned and it took longer than I expected.

And in case you hadn't heard, the DVD of Frozen came out this week. This is apparently the most exciting thing to ever happen in a kindergarten girl's life. I may have to get the DVD myself and learn "Let it Go" so we can let them get that song out of their systems (it's the only thing they really wanted to sing last night). According to the glazed-eyed mothers, that movie has been playing on constant repeat since they got it Tuesday.

And I may have really confused/freaked out the girls because they were talking to each other about whether or not they were going to get married. The other teacher said something about that, and one of the girls said very dismissively, "Oh, you two are already married." I said that I wasn't married, and they didn't seem to know how to deal with that because in their world, all adults are married. Not that I have anything against marriage, but I figure it doesn't hurt to let kids know that there are other outcomes in life. It kind of fits with the Frozen thing, where it doesn't end with a wedding.

In other news, now that I have a pile of work to do, with revisions on one book, copy edits on another, writing on a third, and some work to do for non-US digital release of the first four books in the Enchanted Inc. series, I have been possessed by a powerful urge to clean and organize my house. I almost NEVER want to do housework, and suddenly it sounds like the most exciting thing ever to do. I did manage to lift a stain from a countertop (thank you, Internet, for the rubbing alcohol suggestion!) and then stopped myself before clearing off the entire counter and polishing it. I also really want to exercise and practice music. The music practice I need because I have a solo coming up in a choir piece, and I need to build some strength in the upper end of my range, which requires daily work. I managed to avoid having to sing it in rehearsal last night, but we're starting to rehearse this piece, which means I'll need to be ready to sing it next week in rehearsal (the choir isn't performing it until May).

But I must work. I will outline my worldbuilding stuff for the steampunk book (the editor doesn't seem to understand my magical system) and write a new scene for the book I'm writing. I may let myself Swiffer the floors, just to satisfy some of the cleaning urge. I have to take advantage of that while I have it.